Butterfly host plants

Most of our favorite butterflies and moths begin life as caterpillars on a very specific plant or closely related group of plants - their hosts. Adult monarch butterflies, for example may gather nectar and pollen from any number of plants (and may provide valuable pollination services in the process), but when it comes time to reproduce they will seek out and lay eggs on milkweed, the only food source for monarch caterpillars. Spicebush swallowtails will only reproduce on - you guessed it - spicebush shrubs. Native plants are nurseries for butterflies, and attract songbirds who feed their young caterpillars each spring. Here is a list of all the butterfly host plants in our 2018 sale - marked in our catalog with a butterfly icon - and the butterflies and moths they support.